You look down and notice the little flashing light on your phone. Suddenly your focus has shifted from your task at hand to finding your charger so your phone doesn’t die. In many ways, you are the charger of your family. Yes, your children go out into the world and live their lives, but occasionally they come home. You provide them with a sense of comfort and infinite strength that is hard to find outside the home. Just as your charger gives your phone battery strength, you give your family strength. So what happens once you die? Who becomes the new charger, or who is in charge?

One of the biggest problems people fight over in settling an estate administration is who is going to be in charge. If you don’t make that decision before you die then your children may fight over who will be in charge or have resentment towards the siblings in charge. One possible solution is to name an independent third-party trustee or trust company to be in charge. This could be a viable option for many reasons. Some of those reasons include the cost, the fighting, the feeling that somebody is being taken advantage of, or the feeling that somebody is getting more than other children. When you do your plan you tell them what you want.

Remember you are the charger that powers your family and helps hold them together. You lose that strength after you die. I have seen too many situations where the family splinters. Creating an Estate Plan is a way to keep that charge solid.

The short answer: yes. I have changed so much throughout the years and I have watched those I love change as well. I haven’t just changed from being a child to a teenager to an adult. There have been moments of growth and change throughout my entire life. New experiences happen daily and help me to learn and grow. I make mistakes, especially when I don’t fully understand what is happening around me. Those mistakes have helped me become a better person. While change is not always pleasant, such as losing a loved one, it is a necessary part of life. And with the change of death, your children will have to deal with the legal ramifications of the situation.

Navigating the legal processes after you die can and will be difficult for your children. This is compounded by the very real sting of you not being there to guide them through their emotional distress. However, death is a great catalyst for change. This scenario is made easier or harder depending on how well you planned before your death. An Estate Plan is an excellent way to protect your children after you pass away. It can help guide your children towards a constructive distribution while steering them away from a family argument. You can design an Estate Plan that gives the trustee discretion in distribution to help guide your children. In this way, their challenges or imperfections will not cause them to lose their inheritance.

A detailed Estate Plan can help navigate the turbulent waters that inevitably come for everyone. Nothing can prevent death, but it is possible to help make the transition easier for those who are left behind.

One of the main reasons for Estate Planning, particularly if you have minor children, is to designate guardians. You have to decide who will care for your children if you both pass away. An Estate Plan allows you to do more than choosing who can provide for your children. It allows you to designate those you don’t want to have guardianship of your children.

Further, you can give the future instructions to potential guardians on how you want your children raised. When someone babysits your children you make sure to leave them specific instructions. You tell the babysitter when bedtime is, any potential allergies, and any other advice to help keep your children safe.  Similarly, an Estate Plan allows you to give detailed instructions to potential guardians. Your personalized Estate Plan can be a guide for possible guardians of your children. It can explain what is important to you when it comes to raising your children. Even after you are gone, your values can be taught to your children. By leaving instructions in your Estate Plan, help raise your children after you both pass away. Creating an Estate Plan allows you to dictate the values and character traits taught to your children.

Unfortunately, sometimes there is a falling out between someone you love and yourself. While never expected, never planned, and never an easy experience, these situations still arise. Rifts form between people and create problems leading to close friends or family drifting apart. When this happens, you probably want to disinherit the person who drifted away so that they don’t receive the same inheritance as those who stayed by your side.

Without an Estate Plan, you cannot plan for that sort of situation. Cutting themselves off, hurting you, stealing property, deceiving you, and absent for 30 or 40 years; without an Estate Plan, this leads to them receiving the same amount as the child who has always stayed close. While one child is close by and always assisting in caring for you, showing you love and respect, the other is off pretending you don’t exist. For both children to receive the same inheritance seems like an unfair reward for the one causing you pain. Without a complete Estate Plan, the black sheep child will receive the same as the good children.

Your legacy is not only the assets you leave behind to help your children financially. A legacy is the values you hold dear mattering to the ones you love because of you. Passing on words of wisdom and providing guidance to loved ones can help ease the sorrow of your death. A good estate plan provides this by including language explaining your values and words your children can remember you by.

Protecting both your assets and values can be accomplished with a good estate plan. It takes your assets and allows them to help your children, no matter what decisions they make. A well drafted Estate Plan will help and rebuild your children’s lives when disaster strikes. You can infuse your estate plan with descriptions of your assets. Then describe how to use the assets to assist your children during their lifetime.

After you are gone, the mixture of your wisdom and assets in the Estate Plan can provide help and security for your children. As parents, you want to protect your children. A good estate plan doesn’t just protect them financially, it also protects them emotionally.  It allows you to leave your legacy with personalization of wording and extending your values to your children.

A good Estate Plan provides that on the death of the first spouse the assets will divide into two trusts. The Trust protects the children so the assets are distributed to them, not to the second spouse. We want to protect our children in the event our spouse remarries and we want our spouse to remarry.

Even if they remarry, people want to protect their spouse. Protecting your spouse, if they remarry, is possible with the creation of an Estate Plan. An Estate Plan can designate dividing the Trust in two on the death of the first. Language inserted in the trust can protect the spouse, both emotionally and financially. In the event of their remarriage, it may require a prenuptial agreement. It also protects and makes sure those assets are available to assist the surviving spouse in the event of a financial meltdown or massive liability. This provides security after you are gone.

We all like to think our spouses are perfect. We like to think we are a perfect couple. However, we all know everyone is imperfect. Those imperfections are part of the reason we love our spouses. They can keep us grounded and remind us that everyone is human. However, those imperfections can lead to conflicts and problems. This is true during your life and after. Even with the best of intentions, your spouse might end up doing something you would not wish for.

An Estate Plan can provide solid assistance to the surviving spouse. In case some of their imperfections show up, your spouse will be prepared. This is also crucial in case somebody tries to take advantage of them. While we would like to believe that won’t happen, unfortunately, it does. A proper Estate Plan can protect them from themselves and from others.

This is a simple one; of course, you love your children. You love them more than anything and would do everything in your power to protect them. An Estate Plan shows your love for your children and protects them long after you pass away. Cost may be a concern. However, to protect them now instead of leaving them with a head ache after you are gone will ultimately be cheaper.

In fact, many give annually well over $1,500 to $5,000 to charities, which is generally how much an Estate Plan can cost depending on a variety of factors. This is amazing and we applaud such generosity. Such donations provide relief to many people who are in need. Now consider the benefit of helping your children by spending that same amount of money on estate planning. A one-time donation, with the occasional update throughout the years is certainly a viable option. Give a gift to your children. Give them a customized personalized Estate Plan that will provide for them in the years to come.

Government benefits are often hard to navigate. With many rules and regulations, it can seem impossible to keep track of every detail concerning your benefits. You never know what seemingly minor detail might have a major impact on your government benefits. Plus, very few people know how to maximize those benefits. In fact, it can be so difficult that many people who need benefits might not be receiving them.

Harmony is something people are always striving for. Just like in music, harmony creates beauty in life. The harmony creates the intricate sounds that cause pleasure and excitement when listening to music. However, to create harmony in music and life, there are certain rules and patterns one should follow. It is important to remember, however, that not everyone likes the same type of harmonies. Each person has their own personal connection to the types of music they enjoy. It is the same when it comes to your heirs being in harmony. Not every plan will work the same for every family.

However, this is a place where the Estate Plan can not only set out the financial legal design, but it can also set out your legacy and your reasons for planning. It can be designed to create beautiful music that will bond the family and keep your children and your heirs in harmony.

This is possible because an Estate Plan is so much more than just a simple Will. An Estate Plan can provide more protection for your family after you pass away. Having just a Will is like having a simple melody. You might think it is everything you would ever want and need, but it could be so much more. Creating an Estate Plan is like taking that simple melody and expanding it to create harmonies for a full orchestra. There is so much more depth and complexity to the music. This allows it to bring joy to a wider audience. Similarly, an Estate Plan can take a simple Will and expand it into documents that not only distribute your assets but also help protect the relationships of those you left behind.